I read this a long time back when I read much more fantasy than I have over the last few years. Still Robert Cormier is always amazing and I'm enjoying this the second time through. UPDATED:Wow, what an ending. Forgot all about how dark this book goes. What did I expect? It is Cormier after all, but the final third is just astonishingly good and bleak. Perhaps this one will get the full review treatment.... ( )

This story follows Paul, who at 13 realizes he has a unique talent--he can "fade" or disappear at will. Through his uncle, he learns that this is a trait that has been handed down in his family, appearing each generation in one of the nephews of the last fader. Paul struggles to come to terms with the power the fade brings, as well as its dark side. Cormier does a great job of describing the alternate state of being called the "fade, " which is one of the most interesting parts of the book: "Suddenly there was nothing. I was in that pause he had mentioned, all sensations gone, breath caught and held, my entire being a void, a blank in space. Was this whay dying was like?"

The novel is at its best when it deals with the pain of being an adolescent--of discovering the uglier side of the people we see walking in the street every day, as well as dealing with the difficult feelings and desires of being a teenager. Where it weakens is when it shifts into a Stephen King-esque tale of a psychopathic killer. Cormier links the killing to the fade, of course, but I am left wondering if the struggle between good and evil which the fade manifests could have been resolved in a less formulaic way. As it is, the end of the book feels more like a movie setting up a sequel than an exploration of the struggle of the human spirit with itself. ( )

In the first section of Fade, thirteen-year-old Paul is grappling with the normal turmoil of adolescence in the French-Canadian section of his small Massachusetts town. He falls in love with his glamorous aunt, dreams of being a writer, and watches the effects of the Great Depression touch his town. Paul’s experiences are typical, with one exception: Paul is a fader. Passed down through his family from uncle to nephew, the ability to disappear initiates Paul to the dark secrets in his town and in himself. Twenty five years later, Paul’s cousin Susan discovers Paul’s manuscript detailing his adolescent experience of "the fade." She also uncovers another manuscript telling the story of Ozzie, Paul’s teenage nephew whose ability to fade is destroying his world. Susan is then left having to judge whether Paul’s writing is true and the need to decide what to do with it. Packed with the seemingly opposing forces of tenderness and violence, realism and fantasy, intimacy and disorientation, Fade is another example of renowned author Robert Cormier’s skill. Cormier does an excellent job bringing all these seemingly disparate elements together. Although the switching points of view are jarring at first, they fuel a sense intimacy and urgency that drive the piece. Admittedly, the first three-quarters of the book is richer than the conclusion; however, its generally successful balancing-act of disparate genres and elements is certain to appeal to a wide audience of adolescent readers. 2004 (orig.1988), Delacorte Press/Laurel Leaf, $7.95. Ages 13 to 18.(Courtney Angermeier, Children's Literature)

At first glance, the picture looked like any other in a family album of that time, the sepia shade and tone, the formal poses, the men in solemn Sunday suits and the women, severely coiffed, in long skirts and billowing blouses.

IT IS THE summer of 1938 when young Paul Moreaux discovers he can “fade.” First bewildered, then thrilled with the power of invisibility, Paul experiments. But his “gift” soon shows him shocking secrets and drives him toward a chilling act.

“Imagine what might happen if Holden Caufield stepped into H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, and you’ll have an idea how good Fade is. . . . I was absolutely riveted.”—Stephen King

In the summer of 1938, Paul Moreaux, the thirteen-year-old son of French Canadian immigrants, discovers he has inherited the ability to "fade". His "gift" soon shows him shocking secrets which lead to death and destruction.